Gameplay Walkthrough Part 2 - Unit Selection

In today’s gameplay walkthrough Mike and I introduce you to our new unit selection feature, control some burly soldiers and unleash our archers on the enemy at range. What could go wrong?

As per usual, we got a little over excited and ended up recording over 11 minutes of footage, so we’ve cut the video into 2 parts for your viewing pleasure. Remember, this is a whitebox level designed purely to demonstrate gameplay.

Don’t forget, we have our weekly Q&A on Friday so please post any comments or questions you have below, or send us an e-mail at kickstarter@ambientstudios.co.uk.

Hey everyone, I replied to Tomer's question on the front page but I'm going to copy the reply here as well!

@Tomer
1) It's something we're considering (being able to combine multiple groups), but once we create more levels and scenarios we'll know whether we need it or not.

2) Archers will shoot based on their proximity to other enemy units. We're still balancing distances, and arrow spreads so there will be a lot of improvement as we continually refine those units. You can indeed move your archers if there's incoming fire as well. I think you can see that happening near the start of video 2 in the last update.

3) Yep, trees will indeed provide cover. I just neglected to give them their physics meshes in the video! D'oh. :-)

@Stephen: So each trail currently has a time that it will last before eventually fading away. It won't do it because just because you've painted down a new route. However, we're still looking into this behaviour and it *may* change to something similiar to what you've described.

Currently, if you create a loop, it lasts longer than a normal trail (that doesn't go back on itself), but this too may change to fade out sooner if there are no active troops on it. Lots to experiment with, but it's very exciting being able to try out new things with the mechanic, lots of potential!

As for your example of creating a loop and then pulling out archers seperately (and having the standard infected continue) that's exactly how it behaves at the moment. :-)

We're also considering 'group' control, but at this stage it's more a 'if we need it, then we'll look into it more'. We'll know more as the levels and encounters are created!

I'm curious about the persistence of the smoke trails -- it looked like the pink trail faded once you started the yellow one (in the first video), but so long as you use individual trails, they stick. Did I just see this wrong ('cuz it looks like it stays at the end of the second video)?

Also, if you create a loop for patrolling, etc., will it stay until you interrupt it? For instance, say I use the pink to create a loop around one of the gate wheels, but I realize I accidentally got my archers, too...could I then draw a yellow line away to separate them without interrupting the pink?

Finally, can you assign groups (such as what Tomer said) and get a new color smoke to control them specifically?

1. you showed 4 line, purple for all, blue for melee, yellow for ranged and green for normal infected, can there be another line for unique control for single or groups? for example i want to move 2 melee + 1 archer out of the group to act as decoy while the rest with the purple line go behind and flank them?

2. you showed the archers, when they fire their arrows is that calculated based location or fixed place? which means when the enemy archers shooting on me, does the arrow gonna land somewhere near my people all the time? or if i see the arrows coming, can i change the movement and completely avoid them thus basicly being enable to avoid the damage with proper control of my army?

3. does the trees gonna provide some kind of cover from arrows / siege weapons?

i'm sure i'll get more ideas and questions to try and help you improve all aspects of the game since i really really love what you are doing and i want this game to be the best there is ^_^